How can pluralistic organizations proceed with strategic change? A processual account of rhetorical contestation, convergence, and partial agreement in a Nordic city organization

Journal article

This study examines how pluralistic organizations confronting fundamental differences in values can proceed with strategic change. By drawing on a longitudinal case analysis of strategic change in a Nordic city organization, we show how the proponents and challengers play a “rhetorical game” in which they simultaneously promote their own value-based interests and ideas and seek ways to enable change. In particular, we identify a pattern in which the discussion moved from initial contestation through gradual convergence to increasing agreement. In addition, we elaborate on four rhetorical practices used in this rhetorical game: voicing own arguments, appropriation of others’ arguments, consensus argumentation, and collective we argumentation. By so doing, our study contributes to research on strategic change in pluralistic organizations by offering a nuanced account of the use of rhetoric when moving from contestation to convergence and partial agreement. Furthermore, by detailing specific types of rhetorical practices that play a crucial role in strategy making, our study advances research on the role of rhetoric in strategy process and practice research more generally.

Authors: Sorsa, V; Vaara, E

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: INFORMS
• Journal: Organization Science
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 839–864
• Publication date: 2020-03-12
• Acceptance date: 2019-09-12
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2019.1332
• EISSN: 1526-5455
• ISSN: 1047-7039
• Language: English
• Keywords: strategy; rhetoric; strategic change; pluralistic organization; FFR; strategy process; change; strategy as practice